Price wins 10th, Longoria homers in Rays 10-4 win

Video

Carl Crawford fell face-first on the wet grass while rounding
third. That worked out just fine, too.

Price became the AL's first 10-game winner, Evan Longoria hit a
two-run homer and Crawford picked himself up to lead the Tampa
Bay Rays to a 10-4 victory Tuesday night over the Atlanta
Braves, who learned that longtime star Chipper Jones is
considering retirement.

After a rain delay of nearly 2 1/2 hours at the start, a
throwing error led to three unearned runs in a four-run first
that sent Kenshin Kawakami (0-9) to another loss. He became the
first starting pitcher in Braves franchise history to begin a
season with nine straight defeats.

Price (10-2) was hardly dominating, lasting only five innings
and throwing 113 pitches. But he got out of numerous jams,
including striking out Brooks Conrad with two runners aboard on
his final pitch of the night.

"I've had a rough stretch," he said. "I'm throwing the ball
well. It's just not going where I want it to go."

The Braves had plenty of chances to bounce back after falling
behind in a game that started late because of storms and didn't
end until 1 a.m. But they failed to take advantage of a
bases-loaded, no-outs situation in the second and wound up
leaving 14 runners on base - at least one in every inning but
the ninth.

Tampa Bay stayed tied for first with the New York Yankees, who
beat Philadelphia 8-3. The Braves' lead in the NL East fell to
just a half-game over the other New York team; the Mets beat
Cleveland 7-6.

The Rays put the game out of reach with two runs in the sixth -
including Crawford scoring even with his tumble between third
and home - and three more in the seventh off Chris Resop, who
had a rough debut with the Braves after being called up from
Triple-A earlier in the day.

After falling, the speedy Crawford hopped right up and managed
to slide around catcher Brian McCann's attempted tag, after the
throw from left fielder Melky Cabrera was up the third-base
line.

McCann didn't have a chance to, darting out to his left to catch
the throw, then trying to run back in time to get Crawford with
a diving tag.

It wasn't a fair matchup.

"I'm not that quick," McCann said. "When I caught it, I knew it
was going to be a foot race - and I probably wasn't going to win
it."

The Braves' day began with Jones saying that he's considering
retirement at the end of another disappointing season. He met
with team officials before the game and indicated that an
official announcement could be coming soon.

But the 38-year-old Jones showed he's still got some pop in his
bat. He doubled and scored in the third, then hit a solo homer
into the center-field seats in the eighth.

"Home runs always make you feel better," said Jones, accompanied
by his parents after the game.

The Rays did most of the scoring right from the start. With one
out in the first, Crawford reached when shortstop Yunel
Escobar's throw pulled first baseman Troy Glaus off the bag.
Longoria followed with a towering drive into the left-field
seats for his 12th homer. Cabrera barely moved on the play,
other than turning to watch it land about halfway up in the
lower desk.

Kawakami struck out Carlos Pena, but Ben Zobrist walked, B.J.
Upton doubled and Sean Rodriguez brought them both home with a
double just inside the third-base bag, extending his hitting
streak to 15 games.

Kawakami went five innings, giving up seven hits and walking
three. He was charged with five runs, but only two were earned.
That didn't lessen the sting of another loss and further
endanger his spot in the rotation, especially if Jair Jurrjens
comes off the disabled list as expected in about two weeks.

"He's pitched so much better than his record," McCann said.
"He's kept us in a ton of games."

Zobrist had a two-run single in the sixth, while Longoria added
a run-scoring double in the seventh to give him three RBIs on
the night.

"That whole game was a trip," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We
had baserunners all day."

NOTES: Resop was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett after going 5-2
with a 1.84 ERA in 13 starts. The Braves farmed out struggling
reliever Jesse Chavez, who was 0-1 with a 7.33 ERA in 18 games.
... Crawford reached base five times on two hits, two walks and
Escobar's errant throw.